CLYDE – It’s out with the old and in with the new in the Village of Clyde as five rookie municipal councillors take the reins Oct. 18 as all the incumbents have retired.
Jerry Austin, Starla Sydia, Charis Logan, Patricia Hamaluk and Donna Moore all stepped up to form Clyde’s new council through acclamation after nomination day was pushed back five days due to insufficient candidates.
“It seems like it’s a nice group, a good mix of women and men of all ages. The only problem is we’re all new,” Moore said with a laugh.
Former mayor Christa Clausing says that she chose not to run again because her personal life and work life were growing too busy. Wanting to spend more time with her grandchildren, Clausing elected to leave her seat open for someone new.
Clausing was joined by Doug Nyal, Danielle Dillman, and Art Purdy, who all chose not to run again. Nat Dvernichuk resigned from his position earlier in the year citing health concerns.
After seeing who put their names forward, she says she was happy with the new council and the diversity it will bring to the village.
“When I saw who put their names in, I was very happy to see a lot of women come forward. I’ve been on council for three terms and for many years there were not many women on council. So seeing more women get involved makes me happy,” said Clausing. “We have a fantastic CAO and administration that will get them up to speed and get them trained. They’ll do great and I wish them all the best.”
Austin, who moved to the village in 2012, hopes that his position on council will help him give back to the community that he says he has grown to love.
“I had a bit of a vacuum in my life, and I was aware that since I had been here in Clyde, I hadn’t contributed a whole lot, so I just wanted to give back,” said Austin.
Believing the village to be operating well, he says he plans to uphold the work previously done to improve services in the village.
“I don’t have an agenda. The town has been well managed historically and we have services that I believe compare favorably to any village this size.”
After considering running for council and getting into municipal politics for some time, Logan says now was the best time.
“This year when it came up, I decided it was the right timing. I’m really looking forward to participating in our community on a greater level,” said Logan.
On her radar is listening to the concerns of residents and addressing any issues that may have gone unanswered previously.
“I want to know if there are things in the community that residents have been asking for and seeing if there is a way to address some of those needs that maybe have been forgotten or if maybe it just wasn’t the time to address them.”
Moore has set her sights on continuing any projects the past council had started and hopes to find ways to bring new business to the community.
“We have a fantastic community, so I’d like to see anything that’s already been started get finished. We got an outdoor skating rink last year, so I’d like to see that maintained and be an ongoing thing,” said Moore.
Hamaluk, who moved to Clyde in 1976, has set her sights on economic development, hoping that the “small town mentality” will draw in new businesses and residents.
“I think I would like to attract more businesses to the village and encourage young families to move here. Housing and taxes and our services here are not as expensive as the city or Morinville or anywhere nearby. We’re near a hospital, we have a great playground that many people worked really hard on,” said Hamaluk.
Applauding past councils for their efforts, Hamaluk aims at continuing the work that has already been done.
“We have lived here since 1976 and we’ve seen the village go through ups and downs, but it’s always been headed in a positive direction, even with some of the setbacks. Many, many people worked very hard to maintain it and there’s very few people that were willing to put their name in this time, so I thought that you can’t complain if you don’t put your name in there and help.”
